The adventures, trials, and triumphs of one human and her beloved dogs, JoJo, Dolce, and Zenzi.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Introducing Maya

Not a week went by after JoJo's passing I realized the entire balance of my household was askew in an unhealthy way without a greyhound, a "normal dog." I talked to my husband, and we agreed...

We will always need a greyhound in our lives.

It caught me by surprise. I was ready for the hole JoJo would leave behind. I was ready for the desire to fill that hole with another dog. I expected to want to fill that hole, however, with a border collie. I thought I was making a transition from greyhounds to border collies. I was wrong.

I applied to GreySave on Saturday morning. Didn't hear back by Monday, and applied to Greyhound Adoption Center and Fast Friends. Greyhound Adoption Center got back to me first, so I explained that to Fast Friends and GreySave when they eventually responded to my application. A couple days later, we were assigned an adoption representative in our area, and made an appointment for the home check. We passed, and then nothing for weeks.

I started to panic. Why were they putting us off? Why were they taking so long? Why couldn't I request to meet a dog? Why couldn't they tell me who the short list would be? I started inquiring at other rescues, but no one would work with me as part of a mutual non-compete the rescues have out here. I started considering other breeds, golden retrievers in particular. I even applied for a few dogs and inquired with a couple breeders, but that didn't go anywhere for one reason or another.

Finally, about 4.5 weeks later, we got word late Tuesday evening via email that they were ready at the GAC for us to come down to the kennel and meet some dogs. Eager as I was, I inquired if NOW there would be a short list?

Nope. No idea. Just go down and see what happens.

My candidates included all the dogs that were small dog friendly, + Jonny, a beautiful brindle and white girl who was too newly rescued to have been tested yet. Jonny's picture captured my heart the moment I saw her, but Lauper's profile was the winner of the bunch. It described her as small dog and kid friendly, as well as cat workable. She loved to give hugs, and wanted nothing more than to climb in your lap.

Lauper

Best-fitting profile.

Jonny

Captivating eyes.

So we were told to show up at 1:00 on Saturday, November 15th. On our way down, we ran into 45 minutes of traffic, which made us 30-minutes late. I was panicking, but needn't have. They were just clearing the agility equipment off the field when we arrived at 1:30. Darren was the guy in charge of handling the potential greyhound(s) and introductions between my two crazy furkids. He handled Zenzi's alarm barking at his hat with aplomb, and took Dolce's reactivity in stride. He made both of my dogs feel very comfortable in the big open field and with him before bringing out the first dog.

I inquired about Jonny, and he said she wouldn't be ready for another 6+ weeks. She needed some time to get healthy, as they all do. He said that they saw I had expressed an interest in Lauper (I had mentioned that she seemed a good fit on my application), and that she was their top dog for the day. He just hoped Dolce's reactive noise wouldn't scare her away. If she could ignore him, we'd be off to a good start, he said. When the kids were tired from fetch and zoomies, he went to get her from the kennel area. Dolce was to be off-leash, and he would bring Lauper down to the fence, turn her rear, and let Dolce have a good sniff.

As soon as I saw her, I wanted to cry. I knew she was the one instantly. I crossed all my fingers and hoped with my whole being my dogs would agree. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced before when seeing a dog. When I've told people this story, they've questioned whether I'd cried seeing any greyhound again, since the passing of JoJo; or whether it was nerves and anxiety about the forthcoming introductions. I assure you, it was nothing like that. This was soulmate seeing soulmate, and love at first sight.

Dolce took off like a shot when he noticed her approaching the field, and charged the fence, barking like a fool. Lauper did absolutely nothing, and tolerated having her rear end turned to the fence for this mad dog to sniff. She stood like a statue while Dolce sniffed a good long time. He quieted as soon as he sniffed, and barked again when they started walking. Zenzi remained on-leash with me, and was so tired from fetch, she couldn't care less there was a new dog coming in. In fact, she was lying down when we started parallel walking: Darren with Lauper, me with Zenzi and Dolce (who was back on-leash).

The parallel walk, or low arousal walk as Darren called it, went very smoothly. We gradually worked our way closer together. Dolce snarked a couple times when he and Lauper made eye contact, but nothing too serious, and he always stopped as soon as the eye contact was broken. Zenzi was actually fairly interested in her. We had a few polite butt sniffs, and then Darren suggested that when I felt comfortable, to casually take off the leashes from Zenzi and Dolce. I did it as quietly as I could, and they sort of walked with us a bit, then trotted off. Lauper was last to be let off-leash, and things remained pretty low key. Everyone was in close proximity to each other, and there were no more snarks. Darren wanted to go to a medium arousal, and get Lauper doing some zoomies, to see how everyone responded to that. So he had Rick jog a bit along the fence line with her. She happily pranced at his side, then took off with glee around the field. Dolce tore after her at full speed, and Zenzi said "Want to play ball?!" to me. Dolce had to cut some corners, but eventually caught up to Lauper, and they just sort of stopped together. Dolce had tagged her, end of game. Darren said, "That's it, that's what I was hoping for." So now it was time for some medium arousal off-leash play time, and he wanted to go into a smaller enclosure they have to make sure if something did happen, they couldn't get too riled up speed-wise.

In the smaller enclosure, everyone did great. Zenzi pooped, Lauper pooped, I cleaned it all up. It was pretty low key, even with a thrown ball. Dolce was reactive to some barking dogs and passersby from the kennel, which was very close and definitely in sight now. So back to the field we went for some high arousal play time. Darren used a Chuck It to throw a ball for Maya, who fetched it, then did a victory lap of zoomies. Dolce was having a blast chasing her, and Zenzi continued to politely sniff, but remain more interested in playing with me. After passing this phase, Darren said:

"So, do you want to see another dog?"

To which I replied, smiling, "No! I was hoping that'd be optional!" They'd been talking about possible alternates to bring out, I heard Pajamas and Iron mentioned:

Pajamas

Small dog safe, 2 year old male with a broken leg.

Iron

4 year old male that needs work with cats and small dogs.

But I knew going in Lauper was the one, and I didn't want to put my dogs through another introduction to confirm what my heart already knew. Lauper was family. I already had the name Maya picked out, named for Maya Angelou, a hugely inspiring and strong woman for me. The entire introduction took about an hour, paperwork took another 15-20 minutes, I handed over my check for the $295 adoption fee, waived the included collar and leash (I already had a set and planned to purchase something they didn't sell) and told them to consider it my donation, and we were on our way home.

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About Me

I am a multifaceted person, who has decided to focus on music (B.S. and M.A. in Violin Performance) and dogs (working toward training certification from many organizations). I love my dogs, and I love my music. Sharing my love for both with others is a joy, and I am lucky enough to call it my career.